DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

南箕北斗

Mandarin · pinyin Nán jī Běi dǒu

lit. the Winnowing Basket in the southern sky, and the Big Dipper in the north (idiom)
fig. sth which, despite its name, is of no practical use

Characters in this entry

南: nán · south; southern part; southward
箕: jī · sieve; dust pan, garbage bag; 7th lunar mansion, determinative star γ² Sagittarii (Alnasl)
北: běi · north; northern; northward
斗: dòu · dǒu · a dipper; unit of volume (ten 升 or litres); Kangxi radical 68; 8th lunar mansion, determinative star φ Sagittarii

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

2–1–3–3 · Nan2 ji1 Bei3 dou3

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

4character links

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

naam4 gei1 bak1 dau2

Cantonese word readings for 南箕北斗. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

naam4 gei1 bak1 dau2

Pleco · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Word reading; meanings not aligned.